Insight:

Workforce is shifting from a geographically fixed, vertical
organisation structure, to a global fluid, on demand resource.

Industry Impact:

Business models that Accountants and Bookkeepers advise, will slowly be restructured to capitalise on the efficiencies and opportunities this creates.

Overview

The traditional education system has remained unchanged for over a
century. Looking back at its original inception, it was designed by a
group of people that had a very different intention. The founders of
the education system were capitalists who wanted to create a place
where children could be groomed into good, honest, hardworking factory workers.

The Technology Revolution (of which we are currently at the
beginning) has decentralised business, and has created an infinitely
different platform of possibilities to create revenue on. The internet
allows us all to discover, connect and co-create instantly with anyone
on the planet. Whether it is an army of hardware manufacturers in
Schenzen, or the highest calibre logo designer in Berlin, we can build
our business, with minimal wastage on redundant staff, skills and availability.

From how we learn, connect and create, the new way of business does
not rely on ‘robotic’ requirements of people. Henry Ford’s
groundbreaking original factory line looks a lot different to Elon
Musk’s Tesla plant of today. Thousands of human workers have been
replaced with customised robots, capable of building cars in a
fraction of the time, at a fraction of the cost. Nowadays, we can
simply create custom software and hardware to replace these menial
tasks that under-utilised human potential. This allows humans to do
what they do best. Think and create.

There has never been a better time to update ‘the software’ of our
workforce either. Companies that have employees are not stuck with the
skills they hired them with. Developing and upskilling the team
doesn’t need to happen in a lecture theatre at University - they can
learn how to master the latest technologies from the professors at MIT
on their lunch break. On their mobile phones. For free.

Hiring a fixed team in a fixed location is not always the best
solution. In today’s climate our workforce can be located anywhere,
and can scale with the demand, creating enormous benefits across the business.

Factors

Global Marketplace

It wasn’t long ago that your market was
constrained to the borders of your city, country or continent. Global
business was only for large companies that could afford to build and
own infrastracture abroad. Now, these physical borders have vanished
and it is open season for businesses of all shapes and sizes. Even the
smallest stall in a market can have global reach, with a shop on eBay
and transactions in any currency with PayPal.

Education

Learning new skills with formal education
should not stop when we leave school or university. All it takes for
our workforce to expand its capabilities is an internet connection.

AI

Secretaries, box packers, postage
stampers, call centres, and even pastry chefs: every profession that
is based on consistent repetition is slowly becoming phased out by a
machine. The exponential advancement of AI, and the robots they power,
have created a silicon and steel workforce that doesn’t get sick, can
work 24/7, and doesn’t require a pension.

The Blockchain

Although not a big factor yet, the
Blockchain is forecast to accelerate these trends even further.
Accountability and trust will become absolute in global business, and
the era of ‘we can’t trust a workforce unless they are in the office’
will become a thing of the past.

Moving forward

As Tess finished her salmon at the sushi restaurant under the office,
she sees Jay has a message waiting for her. It has become customary to
switch your AI on silent when you are eating, even when alone.
Previously, people become overly-obsessed with their AI, in some cases
even falling for them romantically, and so culture decided we should
eat meals with humans only, keeping meal times sacred.

“OK, Jay. What have you got?” She asks the dim purple light on her phone.

“I have spotted something I think Yuri might like”.

Yuri is one of her top clients, who owns a company called Doze Inc: a
global retailer of products and services that help you sleep. The main
focus is their retail stores in airports and Hyperloop stations.

Jay continues with an infographic on his phone: “there is a spike in
searches across Asia and India for a new herbal sleeping mediation
call D10. The profit margin would range between 12 and 42 percent, if
we can outsource the management, production and distribution. The less
staff we pay, and the less infrastructure we own, the better the returns.”

“Wow, I love it. I have read about this stuff. It promises to be a
herbal alternative to prescription sleeping medication. But we will
have to move quickly, right?”

“Yes, we will. But this is between me and you. Remember you pay an
extra 36 litecoins per year so any trends or insights I pick up are
yours exclusively”.

“You are worth every penny, Jay”.

Moments later, Tess is back at her desk and reviewing a video
presentation outlining the business case Jay made while she was in the
elevator. To be a success, the venture will require a completely
modulated structure, and can only be achieved with the global
ecosystem of ‘plug and play’ business resource.

One of the best features Jay offers is the ability to shortlist
business resource from around the world. They are all verified via
recommendations using Blockchain with the candidate’s real time availability.

Jay creates a summary video, which outlines what it is, how it
works, and the size of the market opportunity in Asia. After a few
tweaks, Tess is ready to share the pitch, which shows a new move into
Asia - in a category that Doze Inc have not yet played in, with some
of the highest margins the company has ever forecast.

In true Yuri style, he buys the idea even before the video has finished.

He gives Tess the green light to invest enough capital for an
18-month runway into Asia. If enough traction is achieved to hit the
low end of the forecast, it is regarded as a huge victory.

Tess sits down and begins reviewing the potential players that can
make this all happen in the crunched timeline.

Jay opens with his shortlist;

“OK. Let’s start immediately by skilling up his merchandising team
on the product with an online course at Wellness Academy based in
Switzerland. To support this process, we can hire a specialist to lead
the team in Australia remotely. Once the team gets their head around
it, we can cut that person back. Meet Dr Amy Pang. She is a very
experienced doctor in Indonesia who has focusssed her whole career on
herbal medicine.

Then, there is the manufacturing component. This can happen in New
Zealand, so we can farm and package the herbs fresh within days. The
final stage of packaging can come over to the great Republic of
Australia, so we can personally oversee final stage before it gets
shipped.

The branding and design team are in Berlin, they have won a stack of
awards for packaging design for health products.

The management team will be based in Beijing, who have teams on the
ground across Asia. They will report directly into Doze Inc’s
Melbourne team, and will take care of sales, distribution, and
customer service.

An initial investment of 600,000 lite coins will cover launch and a
runway of 18 months.”

All of Jay’s recommendations were taken from a pool of thousands of
teams of people from around the world. They are each totally
authenticated by a string of reviews and recommendations stored on the
Blockchain. Technologies like this and 5G make collaborating with
people remotely much easier, as we have complete trust and access to
one another in real time. The only thing we cannot control is time
zones, but this can also be an advantage with businesses wanting to
create maximum production output and efficiency: with teams of workers
that ‘follow the sun’, the company have full 24 hour productivity.

“Yuri is going to like this, Jay. Package it up for me, and let’s
get him and the team on a video conference this afternoon. ”

Tactics

Test the flexibility in yours and your
client’s business. When you’re looking to hire additional staff,
experiment with outsourcing to a remote, on-demand resource.

In the longer term, look at what resources
could be outsourced, and it can improve how they design,
manufacture, distribute and charge for the product or service.